Five members of a family crushed to death by a heavy vehicle in Giridih

P Mishra

Giridih: Six persons including five of a family were killed and 3 others seriously injured after they were hit by a speeding Haiwa at village Chiknibad under Birni police station in Giridih district in Jharkhandon Sunday night.     

The incident took place around 11pm when about a dozen of villagers had gathered at an open space close to a building following a land dispute. Meanwhile, a speeding Haiwa coming from Koderma struck the house and later hit the villagers killing five persons of a family on the spot. A staff of the heavy vehicle succumbed to his injuries during treatment at Birni based government hospital early Monday morning.  

The deceased were identified as Kailash Yadav (50), Bandul Yadav (60), Sahdeo Yadav (40), Bhupendra Yadav (25) and Umesh Yadav (21). The name of the heavy vehicle who died on Monday morning is yet to be ascertained by police.  

A  team of local police visited the place of occurrence and looked into the matter. “We can’t ascertain anything regarding exact reason behind the accident but according to the villagers including some eyewitnesses, the driver of the speeding Haiwa had lost control over the vehicle and initially struck the building before dashing the gathering,” said Birni PS incharge Nawal Kishor Prasad.

Angry villagers blocked Giridih – Koderma main road for more three hours and demanded compensation to the deceased’s family. The blockade that started around 7 am was lifted around 10: 30am on Monday only after a team of administrative officials led by  Sariya – Bagodar SDM Narendra Gupta visited the site of occurrence and looked into the matter. “Nothing much can be said as  investigation was still on. While the injured have been referred to Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS), a medical team  reached Chiknadihand and carried out post-mortem of the deceased. Later, the bodies were handed over to the family,” Gupta said adding that Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the deceased’s family.